THE GOOD
Eason and Bolden scored touch downs again. Eason's proving to be a very solid player but Bolden looks like he could be truly special. Next year he will more than likely become the star of the offense. That's about it for the good.
THE BAD
Once again the Rebels played well enough to win a game. They were within 40 yards of matching South Carolina's out put. They were even up at one point 14-3. But they just couldn't hold on. One of the biggest culprits was the defensive secondary and the linebackers especially. The Linebackers just can not cover the intermediate routes. Once again a random middling quarterback gets player of the week honors just by facing the Rebel secondary. I've praised Tyrone Nix for most of the season because I think he's getting about as much out of the personnel as he can right now. But he didn't call his best game as the pressure never seemed to get there. His blitz scheme wasn't nearly as effective as it was in previous outings. Now some of the catches by the gamecock receivers were the miracle catches that just happen sometime. But the defense gave up too many big passing plays and could not get off the field on third and long.
The offense didn't help the defense much either. After generating nearly half of their total offensive yards in the first two drives the offense disappeared for the entire third quarter. The Rebels had one offensive drive in the third of which nearly the entire drive was one long Dexter McCluster run. After that the defense was spent and couldn't stop South Carolina. Still the defense held on the final South Carolina drive and got the offense the ball back down one score with a minute and a half to go. Or thirty seconds more than Wake needed to drive the field.
But the true story of the game was the turnovers. South Carolina made one and the Rebels failed to capitalize on it. Ole Miss had three turnovers. South Carolina capitalized on all but the final one since that was Snead interception to end the game.
It seems like for every great play like this.
The Rebels throw out another one of these.
And of course the human turnover machine contributed with his previously mentioned interception and his second quarter fumble.
That South Carolina returned for a touchdown.
That return gave the gamecocks the lead and Nutt said it looked like the team never got over it. They had a look like they just lost the game. They even scored again and lead at half 21-17 but Nutt said the players acted as if they were down at half again. They came out like a defeated team in the third quarter.
THE UGLY
I am now firmly convinced that we are suffering through the Curse of Cut. We(read Pete Boone) stupidly fired the coach with the best first seven year record in program history for a no experienced loony defensive line coach. This made the football gods angry.
Every year away from this decision looks worse and worse. Yes Cut had his flaws. And he was in poor health. But you can't say the program is in better shape now than if he had remained coach. It will take Nutt a couple of years to get back to Cut's mediocrity. Hopefully one day we'll be a little bit better or luck into a Western Division Championship.
But I've decided the football gods will not let this happen till Cut gets to a bowl game first. Luckily he's turning around the worst BCS league team faster than you'd expect. So far they've already beaten Navy by ten points (same Navy that beat Ole Miss tormentor Wake Forest) and they beat Virginia by 31-3. You may remember that former number one team in the Country was widely praised for its unstoppable offense after beating Virginia by a similar margin.
So far Duke sits at 3-2. Here's there remaining schedule to get to six wins. I will keep a running tab on the Curse of Cut until it is broken.
Miami
@ Vandy
@ Wake Forest
N.C. State
@ Clemson
@ Va Tech
UNC
Pull for the Blue Devils. It will only anger the sports gods more if you pull against Cut for whatever grudge you hold.
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